Our Trip

We had such a good time on our trip to Arizona.  The start of it found us sitting in the Charlotte Airport for almost 4 hours because they had to find us a new plane. Ours was broken and we had to have a different crew.  The flight was long- About 4.5 hours and we were so glad to get there.  We stayed the first night at a Hampton Inn which had been refurbished.  After we checked in, we went to the Botanical Gardens that I had seen on our last trip to Phoenix about 4-5 years ago.  Many improvements had been made since I had seen it.  We were so tired that we did not walk all the paths, but what we saw was beautiful.  Josh, you didn't by chance crate these Chahuley pieces, did you?   the yellow green plants that you see are really glass sculptures by Dale Chahuley.  We have seen some of his work in Seattle and the Columbia Museum of Art has his work.  The next day, we went to the HoHokum ruins at Casa Grande.  Those were really interesting.



Steve at the Botanical Garden

  We saw the movie that told about the Native Americans and walked around taking pictures.  I spoke with one of the rangers who was from southeast Alaska.  Arizona was quite a change for her.  It was quite a change for us too.  Flat land, sandy soil, and plant life totally different were just some of the things that we experienced.  When we left Casa Grande, we at a KFC.  Some things are very much the same.  After lunch we drove up this senic road to the mountains.  That was beautiful and very different from our Appalachians.   These mountains are very rocky and so dry.  The cacti were everywhere.  The mountain roads were quite steep as you can see by the grade in the picture.  We encountered one grade that was 7.5%.  It was so beautiful though that we didn't think about the road. At least I didn't because I was busy taking pictures.  After we drove into Tempe to the Mission Palms Hotel. It was like going into another world.  the hotel is in downtown Tempe behind an adobe wall with beautiful flowers all around.  It was quite elegant to say the least.  All the staff was so nice and we could walk to the restaurants to eat at night.  I loved it.  The weather was incredible and the people were so interesting.  Very much a mixture of cultures,because Arizona State University is there so the town is teaming with young college students. The first night there, we ate a Greek restaurant that was yummy.  We thanked the concierge who sent us there. 

She told us that it was one of her favorites and she was right.   The second night we ate at this brewerythat was recommended by some girls on the street as we were walking downtown.  They were right! It was really good too.

I am stopping for now.  The night is old and so am I so I am off to bed.  Maybe tomorrow, I will tell you more of our journey.

We're On the Way

Today we met the builder and his son at our lot.  Steve, Dick, & his son measured it off and proposed putting the house more to the right which was where Steve had thought about anyway.  We have to wait for the county person to come out to do a perk test and suggest where the septic tank should be placed along with the drain field.  Our builder said that once all that gets done, and he files for the building permit it might get started the middle of May.  Once it gets started, the driveway and the area for the house will be cleared.  We would like to leave it as wooded as possible. 

We have the plans to look over and we like the way he fixed them. I will take pictures of the facade of the house to put on here before I take that all back to him on Monday.  He gave us a 2 choices for the facade, and Steve and I both liked the same one. YEH!! 

Getting Closer

Things are moving closer!!!

This makes it kind of official now.  I went downtown to Richland County to get this done.  We meet with the builder tomorrow evening to stake off the house site and to look over the plan changes that he has done for our new house.  While we are gone, he will finalize the plans and have things ready to go to the bank, I guess.  Maybe that driveway will be cut by May.  Who knows.  Time will tell. 
Possibly, I will have more to report tomorrow night if I have time.

Progress

I had all this written and something made it all disappear, so here goes again.

We have made progress!!  Steve and I took pictures of our lot yesterday.  I am learning how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer.  We will see how that goes! 

Look at the woodsman!!  Steve wanted to walk through property to see where the surveyor had put the stakes at the back.  Many times this is his usual look-right Josh! I am sure Josh is wondering why I didn't walk over it too, but to answer his question that he is thinking, I had sandels on and was not going to step in a hole where a snake might bite me.  Oooh, not a good thought!

We love our lot because it has hardwoods which we hope to save.  We want most of the lot to stay wooded, so I can pretend we are in the mountains and we have less yard work.  Ha, Ha!  We are only about 300 feet or so above sea level, but our lot does slope down so we are on sort of on a hill. This shot right here is showing where the drive way will probably be cut in and then follow the contour of the property up to the house.  I just about hyperventilate when I think about it.  Have we bitten off more than we can chew!  I hope not!!!!

While we were sitting here with our bread, wine, and olive oil, the builder,Dick,called.  he asked if we had seen about the septic tank permit from DEHEC.  I will have to call in the morning to get it started.  Dick is meeting us at the lot on Thursday evening to see where we should place the house according to the grades of the lot.  Then he will get  the info to DHEC and possibly meet them out there to discuss the drain fields.  So much to be done.  Maybe by May we will cut the drive.  Hopefully, I will be able to post news on Thursday night.

I am going to put in one more picutre.  Hope that you like it!!!

This was taken before Christmas at Irmo Park.  Jonah had the best time running around until he fell and hit the grate with his head.  He changes every time we see him.  We ate at Zorba's last night with Jennifer, Brian, & Jonah.  Jonah had spaghetti and our waitress, Haley, called him the "Spaghetti Monster".  Jonah had spaghetti all over his face, in his hair, and on his shirt.  What a mess!  Haley got more than a 20% tip for that one.